


Ill Intentions

by RedPanda1999



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-27 17:35:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30126408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedPanda1999/pseuds/RedPanda1999
Summary: James was called away that night to fight, and Voldemort stays true to his word to not kill Lily, not outright anyways. Ill intentions are abundant in Harry's life, but now history is different.**Side Note: Just because I have certain warnings included does not mean I will definitely have those elements in this story. I'm writing as I go and I do not know all the elements that I will include so this is a general warning in case you have triggers related to those topics**
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Daphne Greengrass/Harry Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Padma Patil, Padma Patil/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 3





	1. What If?

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own or make money off this story nor do I intend to. All rights belong to JK Rowling.
> 
> Warning: There may be scenes including Major Character Death, Violence, and Rape/Non-Con. Read at your own discretion and no complaining about it's existence. Critiques are fine, complaints are not. You have been warned.
> 
> Inner thoughts are italicized with an 'apostrophes' surrounding it.

Chapter 1: What if?

It was a cold and cloudy night, with bouts of rain sprinkling the town's pavement and causing the decorations to droop and sag. Despite that, the Halloween spirit was running abundantly amongst the residents of Godric's Hollow. This little Pagan holiday was a day of festivities and merriment in even the oldest and most grouchy people. That feeling was different for the magical folk, like Lily and James Potter, who live in a quaint little cottage just down the street.

Lily was reading a book in the rocking chair that sat in Harry's room while he slept. Always ready to grab him and run at a moment's notice. She longed for the festivities going on in the town, imagining Harry in a tiny pumpkin costume.

One day... Maybe next year?

James walked in and beckoned her to follow him. She walked quietly across the room, but didn't shut the door.

"Lils, I just got word that the Order is fighting Death Eaters at Hogsmeade. Sirius and Lupin are there fighting, and Peter stayed behind of course."

_'James looked kind of frantic, like he longed to be there but knew he shouldn't. He's stir-crazy, but so am I. I've been considering going to Albus with the suggestion that James and I take Harry back to the Manor and just put it under the fidelius instead. It is bigger and harder for them to navigate which could give us more time to escape or hide.'_

Lily was pulled from her thoughts by James gently tugging her into his embrace. He had sensed that she was troubled, she tends to worry about the others especially since she can't help while watching Harry. Lily and James walked downstairs together to make a pot of tea, hand in hand, when they heard an owl pecking on their window. James approached the window with caution but proceeded to let it in to relieve it's load which was a simple envelope. He scanned it for any ill intentions and found none. Pulling it out he saw Albus' elegant script:

**James,**

**I know this request may seem odd especially during these troubled times, but I am writing to you requesting your invisibility cloak? I want to study its quite unusual properties, and I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I couldn't duplicate it for the Order's use. You may know really well how some of our members struggle with the disillusionment charm and this might be an advantage that makes a difference.**

**Let me know your decision ASAP**

**Albus~**

His eyes bore into the page, with no expression on his face that told Lily what he was thinking. He chuckled lightly and relayed to Lily Albus' strange request.

"James... As much as I agree with his sentiments about the... skills... of our friends, we need to think of our safety first. What about Harry? If we have that cloak it could make all the difference in the outcome of an attack on our home!" She started picking at the skin on her arms. A clear sign she was starting to feel anxious again. He pulled her down on the couch with him as he sat and just cuddled her, stroking her hair.

"I happen to agree with you Lily, but then I think of the guys. They are all mostly capable but what if they lose their wand and need a cloak to get away safely?" He hated making her feel anxious, but especially with said guys out fighting, these intrusive thoughts were very prominent as well. "What if we all travel to Hogwarts for a few days and make an agreement with Albus that he only study it for 3 days while we are there. I know he hates having people there during the school year but we can stay in one of the apartments near Gryffindor Tower and stay to ourselves and have house elves bring us food and meet with Albus at night if we need. We won't tell anyone, not even Peter, and we can stay safe there for a week or so with relatively low stress while we let him research."

Uncertainty spread through her face but she agreed and he ran off to write a response. She put up their empty mugs from the tea and headed back upstairs to Harry's room. As she walked down the hall the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she looked up to see Harry's closed door... that she had left open! She races into his room to see him not in his crib, she looks frantically around and races out and across the hall into the bathroom. Lily bursts in to see Harry in a full bathtub with his toys swirling around him and bobbing in the water on their own, and he meets her gaze with a face full of delight. She smiles softly at his antics and finishes washing him up and gets him dried and clothed. Right when she lays him back down she hears a commotion downstairs and bolts out the door to his room, sealing it for good measure. As she speeds down the stairs she hears voices talking, one which sounds like Peter?

As Lily rounds the corner she takes in the scene of James and Peter lowering their wands after having answered the security questions.

"Lily, James, I hate that I'm visiting under these circumstances but Dumbledore wants us at Hogsmeade. He said that he wouldn't ask if necessary, here is the note he delivered with Fawkes.

James looked it over but didn't think to check it with his wand since Peter was the one delivering it. It looked legit so he handed it back and summoned his fighting gear to him, shooting an apologetic look at Lily.

"I know we made a pact to stay out of it once we got word of the prophecy but I can't ignore Albus' note, especially if it's looking that dire that he needs us. You keep an eye on Harry and I will be back before you go to sleep." He plants a hasty kiss on her forehead and before she can speak he and Peter walk out the door and apparate away once they walk past the boundary. She stood there silently, picking at her arm again. The hairs on the back of her neck still stood on end.


	2. Maybe This Will Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or make money off this story nor do I intend to. All rights belong to JK Rowling.
> 
> Warning: There may be scenes including Major Character Death, Violence, and Rape/Non-Con. Read at your own discretion and no complaining about it's existence. Critiques are fine, complaints are not. You have been warned.
> 
> Inner thoughts are italicized with an 'apostrophes' surrounding it.

Chapter 2: Maybe This Will Do?

Sirius stumbled into the barren abode of the Potter’s house. Furniture strewn about and destroyed, stumbling and tripping on bundled up rugs and table legs. He made it to the stairs and heard some faint noises that sounded like crying. He felt a flicker of hope as he bounded up the stairs, turned to the right to go down the hall and saw a dim glow coming from the furthest door on the left. Shaking violently, probably from blood loss and adrenaline, he pushes the door open gently and takes in Lily’s prone body slumped over next to the crib. Harry sitting in his crib and he cries and whimpers, stands up and babbles at Sirius, reaching for him. 

Sirius scoops him up into his arms and takes him out of the room. Once he made it back downstairs, taking care to not trip over broken debris he placed Harry down into the ‘play pin’ that Lily bought at some muggle store. He checks over Harry, finding no obvious injuries except for a small cut on his forehead with some caked on blood. He cleans the little tike up and it reveals the cut to be shaped like a lightning bolt you would see in one of those muggle comics that James had shown him 

Once he was done making sure Harry was safe and secure in the pin he went back upstairs to put Lily in stasis and call in the aurors to investigate. Entering the room released the emotions that had built up and he collapsed on the ground by Lily’s body, mourning the loss of one of his best friends. Once he finally gained control back over his emotions he laid a hand on her warm forehead…

_‘Warm forehead? Based off the dried blood on Harry’s head it had been long enough since the attack that her body should have been cold!’_

He jumps up and runs his wand along her body, scanning her like he did Harry and found that she had been cursed, she was barely alive but she wasn’t dead yet! He sent a patronus to Lupin, who was at St. Mungos following the attack at Hogsmeade, telling him to send Medi-Wizards. Letting him know about the condition of Lily and Harry. He levitated Lily’s body downstairs, and he set her down in the kitchen which was left unscathed and he picked Harry back up and took him in, reassuring him that his mum was only hurt, that they would help her.

She had been rapidly transported to the hospital by portkey to their Curse Ward, where he had then traveled to by bike, afraid to apparate with Harry in his current physical and mental state. Lupin met him in the lobby, relaying everything they had done to treat her. She was in a bad state, her soft organs, like her liver, intestines, pancreas, stomach and reproductive organs had been completely turned into mush. Her heart and lungs, kidneys, and brain were not too far behind but they had managed to strip her of the curse in time and put her into a magical coma. They were currently doing surgery on her, because even in the magical world they need to open them up sometimes. Sirius finally agreed to be seen by a Healer once Lupin had ensured that Harry wouldn’t leave his sight. Sirius knew that he and Lupin had a strained relationship after the accusations of being spies they had thrown at each other. After tonight though, they both knew that there was a traitor in their midst and it wasn’t either of them. 

Healer Strauss assessed Sirius fully, which thankfully he had agreed to because apparently Sirius had hit his head sometime during the battle and had a severe concussion and a minor brain bleed, a subdural hematoma is what they called it. Plus his liver, whatever that was, had a minor laceration or ‘cut’. He downed a few less than pleasant potions, one that made his abdomen feel like it was on fire, and received orders to rest from Strauss. Like that was gonna happen. Even if those ‘death munchers’ had fled from battle, that didn’t mean this was over. As long as voldy and his minions were out there he was gonna stop chasing them.

Sirius left the exam room and went to the receptionist and paid the 5 galleon fee and searched for the cafeteria. Once he had a couple of packaged sandwiches, some crisps, and a cup of hot tea for Lupin and coffee for himself, he went up to the fourth floor where the Curse Ward was and went down the hall to the room that Lupin had told him was Lily’s. He walked in and found that the only person there was the Healer and Lily, he was scanning her progress in regrowing her organs and monitoring the machine that was keeping her body from ‘going toxic’ in the words of the Healer. Sirius inquired as to where Lupin and the little tike went and the Healer directed him to the room a couple of doors down.

Sirius walked out of room 408, or Lily’s room, and walked down to room 412, he knocked and heard a faint noise of someone beckoning him in. He walked in and found Harry sitting on the lap of the person sitting up in the bed.

“Padfoot! Glad to see you escaped relatively unscathed!” Sirius’ face lit up and he bounded over and pulled James into a hug, being mindful not to crush him like he normally does. Harry watched them and giggled at the noises that were emitted from his dad’s mouth. James groaned because even with Sirius being gentle it still hurt to move.

“James, if you EVER throw yourself in front of a troll’s club for me again I will curse you with so many slugs you will be begging for that club again! Do you not care how Harry and Lily will feel if you constantly try to save me while endangering yourself? You could’ve died had those death munchers not fled like they did. Now when can you be released, you need to get back into hiding asap, before they get word of you being here. Or we might be dealing with old Voldy trying to come here and off you again.” James chuckled at the rant that spewed from the mouth of his best friend, but it was Lupin that spoke up.

“I actually don’t think that we will be seeing Voldemort again-”

“DON’T SAY HIS NAME!”  
  


“NO LUPIN DON’T!”

Lupin raised his voice above the noise that they made to make a point, “Don’t you see?” He sat in silence, holding his finger up indicating that they sit and listen. Nothing.

“I think that when Voldemeort disappeared from Hogsmeade he went to Godric’s Hollow, and whatever happened to Lily and Harry, caused Voldemort to die, or something happened to affect his existence. Whenever the DE’s fled I caught sight of someone’s left arm because their sleeve had been cut off and the mark was RED… It’s supposed to be black? So what happened to him then? If what I think he marked them with is true, that mark should’ve disappeared as soon as he died. But the fact that it is still there but faded and red, I think something else happened to affect his life.”

“Hold on, while Lily and I were in hiding to keep Harry safe, Lily did a lot of research into why Voldemort’s appearance kept changing to become more snakelike and I had some old tomes from the Potter Library at the Manor about souls. She theorized that something he did to his soul has been making him immortal and changing his appearance”, James was rubbing his cheek and pinching the bridge of his nose, thinking about the love of his life and the state she was in. He looked up and saw Sirius had a far away expression on his face. “Sirius, is there something on your mind? Any idea what he could be doing to prevent death?”

Sirius had a hesitant look on his face when thinking about how to answer that question, “I have a theory, but I really need to research because I don’t know the term or how it is done but I know there is a way to put your soul into something. I don’t know if it is your whole soul or only bits and pieces but I only know this because the Black Family library has a bunch of old books on dark magic that I would read sometimes”

The whole room became somber, no one saying anything, even young Harry could sense a change in the atmosphere and he laid his head on his father’s chest and remained silent. It remained that way for a few minutes before a Healer named Langley stepped in to update them on Lily’s condition. She was healing slowly than they wanted but that they were gonna start her on an extensive potion regiment to help boost that. They were also gonna have researchers try to develop a better organ replacement potion developed for the specific curse she was hit with. Healer Langley then updated James about when he could leave, which was the next day. 

They then had to inform Sirius and Lupin that since they were both stable they would have to leave since normal visiting hours had passed already, and that they had already allowed them to stay too long. Sirius picked up Harry after they had hugged and said their goodbye’s, and they all went to an alley next to the hospital and Lupin apparated them to his house. Sirius decided that leaving his motorcycle where he did, under notice-me-not charms would be fine until he could ride it back to his own abode. They finally went to sleep, Harry as soon as he hit the conjured up crib, and Sirius after he had a hot shower to wash away all the dirt and grime. Lupin had his own bathroom in his room where he did similar nightly ablutions before making sure Sirius was settled in for the night. And they slept lightly that night...

* * *

He fell to the ground as he landed at his destination. He didn't know if he could pull this off, he walked in a scurry-like fashion across the field to the tree edge where he sat and watched the house in the distance. Lights were on inside, it must be early morning right before sunrise. After an hour or two passed, he couldn't tell, more lights popped on which meant that the occupants must be waking up. He stood up and brushed off the debris and dirt, he grabbed his wand and went further into the trees and silenced the area around him. He started shaking and his palms were sweaty. Letting out a shaky breath he aimed his wand at his index finger and let out the incantation for the cutting curse.

"Bloody hell!"

It didn't work, his finger was now sporting a deep cut. Starting to weep he said it again.

And again.

And again…

Finally, feeling queasy and sporting a greenish-grey complexion it fell off onto the ground. The man fell to his knees and held his bleeding hand to his chest. He picked up the wand he didn't realise he had dropped and he pointed it at his finger, attempting to stop the bleeding and heal the stump. He was never good at healing spells though and he couldn't knit the skin together completely. Nonetheless he incinerated the finger and covered up any signs he had been there.

Walking back towards the forest's edge he spotted a little boy playing out in the yard, a mop of bright red hair on top. He walked along the edge of the treeline, making sure to silence his footsteps and avoid any foliage. He was able to get a glimpse of a woman looking through the window with a bright red head of hair just like the little boy. She disappeared from sight and took that as an opportunity to shrink down and scurry across the lawn towards the boy, he could feel a weird sensation when he crossed the ward's boundary and he was suddenly moving through the air, his paws swiping through the air underneath him and he was suddenly very close to the little boy's face… 

"Mum! Look at this rat I caught!"...

  
  
  



	3. Trying To Heal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own or make money off this story nor do I intend to. All rights belong to JK Rowling.
> 
> Warning: There may be scenes including Major Character Death, Violence, and Rape/Non-Con. Read at your own discretion and no complaining about it's existence. Critiques are fine, complaints are not. You have been warned.
> 
> Inner thoughts are italicized with an 'apostrophes' surrounding it.

Chapter 3: Trying To Heal

**Lily’s POV**

‘ _I’m really sore… And why does my throat feel so raw and dry…’_

I opened my eyes and became very aware of a tube in my throat, I looked over and saw James sitting in a chair next to my bed, his head resting on my lap. I poked his shoulder with my hand and his head shot up, looking around at the source. His eyes met mine and the widest grin overtook his face and he jumped up and ran to the door, shouting for someone. He walked back over and grabbed my hand, which made me grimace at the sudden movement. I hurt everywhere, like I had been run over by a hippogriff. James took notice and set my hand down gently right as a healer walked in, Langley I think he said was his name.

“Mrs. Potter, It’s truly amazing to see you awake and alive. You really had us worried, especially in the condition you were when you arrived here. I know you must be in pain, so I’m going to use my wand to spell these potions into your stomach. To help take away the pain, and to also remove the potion used to suppress your gag reflex so that I can remove this tube in your throat. We placed it there to help take the stress off your lungs and heart after that nasty curse.”

I could feel a cold feeling spread through my body as the potions took effect, my pain disappeared, but then it was replaced by a warm sensation in my throat and I felt a compulsion to cough and gag. Before I could do either the Healer removed the tube and poured another potion down my throat, which relieved the soreness and suppressed the urge that made me want to cough my lungs out.

“Now Lily, I don’t want you to speak right away, it could be very painful, even with those pain relievers you drank. That curse completely decimated your vocal chords, and until a Speech Healer comes to work on your vocal chords I don’t want you to do anything that might damage them. However, before I go page him, I want to perform a full assessment of everything to see how well your cognitive and motor functions are. You have been out only three weeks or so but that curse almost killed you and it took a lot of work to undo the damage it caused.”

Healer Langley ran a litany of tests, some that required me to write down answers, point at things, do certain motions and movements. He had me try to stand, but I could barely sit up on the edge of my bed before I ran out of breath, so instead of pushing me he helped me lay back down, my lungs aching at the physical exertion. He wrote down things as we went along, until he finished up his assessment. It must’ve been better than he had thought it would, but I could also tell that my recovery was far from over. I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath, and I could hear James talking with the Healer.

“I know you want to keep her here for her recovery, but I really think that the physical therapy can be done at home, where she would be much more comfortable.” He wasn’t wrong, as much as I was grateful for everyone’s hard work, I didn’t want to stay here a minute longer than necessary. All I wanted to do was hold my baby and sit on the couch and read a good book. Suddenly, I sat up and that got their attention, James rushed over, noticing the panicked look on my face. He conjured a small board with some chalk, and once I had it in my hands I wrote down my questions:

“What happened”

“Where is Harry?”

“Did Peter betray us?

James answered all three and the Healer took that as a sign to leave the room, and to page the Speech Healer.

  
  
  
  


After James and I went over everything that happened, albeit slowly with my board, I was really tired. James could tell I was getting drowsy, so he told me that he was gonna let me sleep and that he was gonna go check on Harry, who was staying with Sirius and Remus whenever James came to see me. Apparently they would bring Harry to see me once a day, but they didn’t want him to be here too long unless they were all here. Although Voldemort was gone, even if they didn’t know how, his followers were still at large with the aurors slowly arresting and raiding places as they found them. Unfortunately, my friends Alice and Frank had been attacked, and were in beds on the same floor in the Permanent Spell Damage Ward. Even Madam Longbottom came by to visit me at some point, even though I was unconscious when that occurred.

I fell asleep pretty quickly, before James had even left my room. I was grateful for the rest, which was cut short when the Speech Healer came in. I would have been irritated at this interruption had I not wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He gave me a small potion to block any pain in my vocal chords and he worked on me, using his wand to assess the damage. He looked happy at the results and jumped right in on what he had found.

“Looks like the damage is not permanent which is better than we could have asked for, since usually someone who has had their chords damaged as badly as the report said your chords were, do not ever recover full use of their speech. However there seems to be a weird nodule on your throat that should not have been there after the repair, which may be there as a result of the curse. I am gonna look at the structure of the curse used on you and I am gonna develop a potion to counteract this anomaly. It may take a while to develop, since the potion has to be specially developed depending on the cause. You do not need to stay here though while I develop it, so if you do go home before I can finish creating it I will send it by owl with instructions on how to take it, it was a pleasure Mrs. Potter, and best of luck with your recovery.”

  
  
  
  


*A Month Later*

I grew more and more frustrated. My legs keep buckling underneath me, and I keep wondering if I should have stayed in the hospital for therapy. As much as I appreciate the help that Emily the physical therapist was providing, it felt like I had hit a brick wall in my recovery. I had regained strength in my upper half, and exerting myself didn’t leave me absolutely winded anymore, but as soon as I would put pressure on my legs, they folded underneath me. I needed to talk to someone, the only one who could help me.

“Emily, I need a break, why don’t you go take a break of your own and have one of the house elves make you something. You know how much they love to help. I’ll be fine, I just want to write a letter and if I need to go somewhere I can ask an elf to help me.” Emily nodded her head, knowing better than to argue with me. She was a bright spot in my life. She didn’t judge me for getting harsh with her sometimes, knowing that it wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault really, not even my fault, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard for James to see me like this, and having to deal with my outbursts of frustration and rage at my predicament. Sometime he would snap at me or I would snap at him. We always made up though, usually calling it quits for the day and he would take me upstairs to our room so we could just cuddle and relax, maybe even play with Harry if he wasn’t napping.

I grabbed my wand and set up my wheelchair which was folded up and tucked under the couch for my therapy session, I slowly levitated myself into my chair, grabbing my bag that I kept with me and setting it beside me in the chair. Exhausted from therapy, I used my wand to propel my chair instead of my arms like I normally would. I made it into the main hall of the manor, the cottage was still heavily damaged, and with the protections around it being compromised we decided to move back to the manor and set up a new fidelius with Sirius acting as the secret holder. Emily, Neville and Augusta Longbottom were the only ones, aside from the guys, who could access the manor at all.

I made it to the staircase and I made sure no one was on the stairs before modifying them to a slope so that I could roll myself up them, once at the top I reset the stairs and made my way down to the study, James was out for the day, and Harry was in his new room napping. His baby monitor being one of the many things I carried in my bag was one of my favorite inventions, using runic overlays to create a barrier around it to prevent magic from interfering in the circuit boards. I entered my study which was connected to James’ study by a secret door, which could only be opened using our magical signature’s. It rarely went in here anymore, having not been living here for a year and then not working since I was attacked. I summoned some parchment and a quill and quickly jotted down on the parchment my enquiry, which he should be able to respond to quickly considering the holiday break started today at Hogwarts. I just hope he will answer it, he owed me this. 

“Piper!” My elf who had been ‘mine’ since I married James, popped in next to me. “Could you take me to the owlery? I need to send a letter.”

“I could do that for you!” Piper said, and while I normally would let them, I wanted to do as much as I could for myself. If I could, I would wheel myself there, but the steps to the owlery are too steep for me to make into a ramp.

“It’s ok Piper, I want to send it off for myself, it’s been a while since I have seen Reena and had a letter for her to deliver.”

“If you insist Miss Lily! Here, grab my hand!” With Piper’s tiny hand in hers, they popped into the owlery, my chair landing gently in the straw that was strewn about for the owls to use for their roost. I called out for Reena, my Little Owl with brown feathers with spots that were white. I tied my letter to the outstretched leg after petting her and showering her with love, and gave her instructions on who to take it too.

Severus.

  
  
  
  


Friday December 25th, 1981

I hadn’t made any progress in walking, except in the amount of frustration I was dealing with. James though, had been optimistic as ever, even after I told him of my plans. He may have been hesitant at first, but even he knew how amazing Severus was at potions. There was a reason Severus was the youngest Potion’s Master and Hogwarts Potions Professor in a century. I had yet to hear back from him though. It made me worry that he resented me still, but I did try to stay optimistic. After all, this is his holiday break, maybe he will write back to me after today passes. I can only hope, because while I was also pretty amazing at potions, no one could deny the expertise of a master in a case like this. Slughorn was a little creepy though and while I enjoyed having him for a teacher, there was a reason Severus got his job.

“Mama! Mama! My head whipped towards the tiny voice I heard and I watched as two toddlers waddled towards me, Neville Longbottom who is my godson, and my little Harry. Even though I was unsure of who said it, a wide smile split my face and I opened my arms to them and picked them both up and sat them on opposite sides of my lap. It was Harry who spoke “Mama!”, and I showered him with compliments hugging and kissing his face, making him laugh. I then turned to Neville, “can you say mama, Neville?” He turned to face me, having watched Harry speak, and out came the words “dada?” I showered him with love the same way I did with Harry. At that moment I heard James walk in, I think he had been standing in the doorway watching the interaction because he had a huge smile decorating his face as well.

“Can you say that again Neville? Say Dada for me!” Harry then looked at James and surprised both of them by repeating what James had said, “dada!” He grabbed Harry and spun him around, both were laughing before James tripped and fell down, shielding Harry from the impact. But neither got hurt and continued laughing, their bodies shaking. Harry rolled over and stood up shakily, Neville slid down my lap and the boys ran off. I knew they wouldn’t get into too much trouble considering the elves did a good job at preventing it. James stood up, dusting himself off and straightening his clothes. He walked over, the smile still on his face.

“Good morning love!” He bent over and kissed me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me up to my feet. I shakily adjusted my stance and wrapped my arms around his waist. This was the bear minimum I could do, but it was better than nothing. I meant I could transfer from chair to chair, chair to toilet, chair to bed. But usually I still needed help or had to use magic if I didn’t have anything to hold on to. We released from the kiss, and I rested my head on his chest. I couldn’t imagine a better feeling at this moment. I had my husband, my child was alive, and although my best friend Alice was still incapacitate, I was glad I could fulfill my godmother duties in raising her son. It’s what we wanted for each other if either of us had been killed in the war. I just hoped that I could one day have my friend back. I was glad Neville had us, but I wanted him to have his mother even more.

I lowered myself back down into my chair, and then looked up at James. “Should we go eat breakfast first, or do you think we should open presents first and then have brunch when Augusta gets here?”

“Why don’t we have the boys open their presents from us, and we can open our presents to each other. And then eat brunch, but that way the boys can open the presents from Augusta after brunch, while she is still here? James was right, I think we should wait for the boys to open her present, and I verbalized that to him as well. I used my wand to propel myself down to the sitting room, racing with James to see who could beat the other. Even though we are parents, we still enjoyed the simple things, it made the past two years of marriage easier. It was necessary with the war going on, but with the war having ended it was still needed to make sure their marriage never changed who they were as a couple.

We made it down there to see the boys already sitting on the floor, probably because the elves corralled them here, and we got the gift giving underway. 

Once James and I cleaned up the trash from the wrapping, one of the elves, Pinky, popped in to announce Augusta’s arrival. James agreed to meet her at the main entrance floo while I took the boys down to the dining room. They climbed excitedly into my lap and I conjured up some restraints to keep them from falling off, and I sped off with the help of my wand, something they loved doing. I took it as a sign that we had some future quidditch players in our house. After all they both loved the toy broomsticks they had. Once I made it to the informal dining room, I released the boys from their restraints and helped them into their chairs that were raised for their tiny bodies so they could eat at the table with us. I got myself transferred over to my chair next to the head of the table when James and Augusta walked in. She walked over to Neville Picking him up and hugging him tightly. She was always coming over to see her little grandson, and he frequently spent the night at Longbottom Hall with Harry whenever James and I wanted a night to ourselves. But Augusta admitted to us that she was getting to be too old to take care of a toddler, which is why they came to the agreement that despite my current predicament, we were better equipped to handle toddlers full time. I also think it’s because she was still grieving at the loss of her son and daughter-in-law. Even if they were still alive, they were trapped within themselves.

Midway through our meal, the boys were covered in syrup from their waffles, and giggling at the mess they had created. An elf popped in next to me and handed me a letter, with a familiar script on the outside. James noticed the excitement on my face and he got up and walked over to my side and knelt down to read the letter with me:

**Lily,**

**Words may never express how regretful I am of my actions, I realize now that if I truly ever loved you, my actions should not have been what they were. To rectify that I agree to helping you with your current predicament, but only if James Potter is there while we work on this. If I am to be your best friend again one day, I must learn to get along with him and your son. We were both bullies as kids, but we are adults. And while my mistakes as an adult were far worse than our actions as kids, I have sworn myself to Albus Dumbledore to renounce being a Death Eater. You both have an oath from me to never act in such a manner that would knowingly harm you or your family ever again.**

When I read that line, the letter swirled with a white light, signifying that his oath took.

**Now as for your predicament, I want to stop by your home on the 27th at 1pm so that the three of us can start with the research. I already have a prototype based off what you explained, but before I meet with you I want you or ~~Potter~~ James Potter to go to St. Mungos and get your medical records because to counteract what I assume is a long term side effect of that curse I need the breakdown of the curse that they should have gotten to stop the curse from killing you. But I believe that the Healers, when healing you, forgot that the muscles are considered an organ to this curse. Not that it is their fault, there is very little knowledge of this curse because it is a specialty curse made by ~~the Dark Lord~~ Lord Voldemort. I will see the both of you then, and happy holidays.**

**Severus Snape ~**


End file.
